Night time temps determine brumation?

[Ivyna_J_Spyder]

Hi all I was hoping some other beardie owners could help me test a hypothesis!

Last winter my 9 year old beardie Bowser woke up a while from brumation and I noticed he had some tremors. The vet determined it was a slight calcium deficiency and just said to up his intake... Problem was, he just wanted to go back to sleep even though I had his basking temps up and everything.

Then I realized one day that even though I had his day time temps high, I wasn't accounting for the temps at night.

In the summer it typically doesn't drop below 75 indoors. But as soon as cooler weather hits, it'll drop below 70 at night even if its still warm during the day. And that is when Bowser will become less active. (Same when in the summer if the AC is left on too high at night- he'll go into a kind of mini brumation for a few days)

So all I did was add a supplemental heat source at night (lightless heat emitter) to get the night temps over 75 again and he was active as he is in summer. It really helped me get him healthy again.

Could anyone else help me test with their beardies and see if this is universal? I'd just be really curious to see.

 

[julescoffman]

I will have to try this! Si went into brumation for 4 months,woke up in April,and last 3-4 weeks he just sleeps all day until I pull out the worms,then he eats like a pig then crawls right back to sleep,and im in sc so its hot! And we keep air on 68..may try heat emitter at night and see if it perks him up